With a substantially weakened Left Front and the Congress, political observers say the anti-Trinamool vote will go to the BJP.
A day after a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind seeking dismissal of the Mamata Banerjee government over the "political murder" of a party MLA, the West Bengal chief minister wrote a latter to him claiming the saffron party might have presented "distorted facts".
He also mentioned that despite repeated caution by his former Chief Secretary on the ground of contempt of court, his Cabinet took the decision for the ad hoc promotion of the government officials, which is a long-pending issue in the Supreme Court.
If the fear of ED could drive the powerful people of today to be honest or at least be minimally corrupt, will it not be a great thing for our nation?, asks Sudhir Bisht.
The 50-lakh-strong community of sex workers in India is seriously considering the NOTA option while exercising their franchise in the Lok Sabha election to register protest against deprivation and apathy.
The government on Tuesday asserted in Lok Sabha that it was ready to discuss issues related to farmers both inside and outside Parliament amid vociferous protests by the Opposition which forced repeated adjournments of both the Houses.
The tumultuous Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday a day before schedule with proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha marred by repeated disruptions by the opposition over which the government and the Congress traded charges and the presiding officers expressed their anguish at the conduct of some MPs.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday attacked Union Home Minister Amit Shah over violent protests against the new citizenship law, saying his job is not to set the country on fire but to put it out. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' slogan, she said the BJP government has brought "satyanaash" (disaster) for everyone in the country.
Opposition members, including from the Congress and the TMC, started raising slogans and showing placards to attack the government on the snooping issue as soon as the House met for the day at 11 am.
BJP leaders in the state are either lying low or criticising the CAA move in hushed tones. Chandra Kumar Bose, vice-president of the BJP's state unit, is most vocal with his opposition to the Act in the current form. "The country is above petty party politics. How can I keep quiet when I see that something is happening which is wrong in its current form?" Other party leaders aren't as vocal as Bose but clandestinely have been questioning the merit of the CAA and its impact on the BJP's prospects in the state. In fact, at a time when the BJP started making deep inroads in the state, the fear of the CAA and the NRC appears to be ruining its prospects.
While the Opposition is making a belated effort to form a joint front against the BJP, Mamata's ambiguous stand has created confusion, observes Virendra Kapoor.
A belligerent rally in Kolkata by 16 Islamic organisations in support of Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, one of the prime accused in the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh, is indicative of West Bengal's liberal space shrinking, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
They registered their protest with a warning that any other such increase would make the party consider its future ties with the UPA.
Members from parties, including National Democratic Alliance partner Telugu Desam Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Trinamool Congress, continued their protests on various issues.
The Upper House, which has seen continuous protests by the Opposition since the Monsoon session started on July 19 to press for discussions on Peagasus and farm laws, was adjourned thrice before the Chair finally adjourned it for the day.
Criticising the saffron party for "undermining democratic values" in the country, the chief minister said, "Democracy exists in Bengal but it is under threat in several other parts of the country."
Three men, with their faces covered, came on a motorcycle to her house in Konnanagar Jorapukur Ghat at 9 pm and started hurling bombs. They barged into the house, smashed a windowpane, damaged furniture, and abused and assaulted her, Bhattacharya said in her police complaint. The BJP leader said in her complaint that it was the handiwork of "anti-socials harboured by the TMC".
Lending his support to the ongoing farmers protests, he said in Lok Sabha that it was not an agitation of the farmers only but a movement of the country and the government will have to repeal the laws.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present at the all-party meeting convened by the government.
Banerjee said she would stand by the Dalit community till the end as her caste is "humanity" and she does not believe in differentiation on the grounds of caste and religion.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
After the Trinamool's overwhelming majority in the West Bengal assembly elections last year, the SSC scam has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports.
As the BJP activists jostled to reach the Bowbazar crossing in the city, police resorted to firing tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse them.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die on Wednesday evening, two days ahead of the scheduled end of the Monsoon session, after the passage of four bills including on the OBC list and state-run insurance companies.
Protests by various opposition parties have led to a near washout of both houses in Parliament.
While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about the consensus, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said there is no need for a separate discussion in Parliament on the Pegasus issue during the budget session.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who travelled by road from Jharkhand to this West Bengal town to address a rally after being denied permission earlier for landing helicopter in the state, targeted the Trinamool Congress chief for opposing the Central Bureau of Investigation's attempt to quiz the Kolkata police chief in connection with the ponzi scams.
A video of Bharatiya Janata Party state president Dilip Ghosh apparently suggesting West Bengal chief minister should wear bermuda shorts to display her injured leg has triggered controversy with the ruling Trinamool Congress slamming it as a 'distasteful comment' and women expressing outrage over the remark in social media.
Addressing the mediapersons, Mamata alleged, "It is genocide. We have decided to observe today as a black day. The forces fired on them directly. The Central Industrial Security Force is trained to provide security to industries and not to control a mob. I could not sleep last night but the prime minister was eating sweets. Such an incompetent government, incompetent prime minister, incompetent home minister."
'The Galwan crisis involves the security of the nation, can't we spend eight hours on that?' 'Why are you scared? Why are you running away from that?
The court directed the Congress to explain whether they were adhering to COVID norms such as wearing face masks, and maintaining social distancing.
Attacking the government on FDI in retail and prise rise, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday indicated that her party may bring a 'no-confidence motion' against it in the next Parliament Session and appealed to various political parties to support it.
The implementation of the NRC as nothing but a political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, she told the assembly.
The West Bengal chief minister has described her protest as a non-political one and welcomed all anti-BJP parties into it.
Parts of the city plunged into a welter of violence as his convoy was attacked with stones by alleged TMC supporters from inside the hostel of Vidyasagar College, triggering a clash between supporters of the two parties, officials said.
Addressing a press conference, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chadoni said if the Centre does not accept their demands during Saturday's talks, they will intensify their agitation against the new farm laws.
The results of bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 29 assembly seats spread across 13 states and a union territory have been a mixed bag for the BJP as its fortunes continue to nosedive in West Bengal against the might of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee while bad tidings have also come from states like Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
"The Chairman was actively engaged in resolving the stalemate over the suspension issue but there was no progress due to shifting positions of the concerned and perhaps, due to unwillingness to regret the misconduct of suspended Members and lack of agreement among the concerned parties on regretting the incidents that led to suspension,' said a statement released by RS Secretariat
The Congress expressed its 'whole-hearted' support to the 'Bharat bandh' called by farmer unions against the new agri-marketing laws and announced that it will hold protests that day at all district and state headquarters in solidarity with the demands of the farmers. TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the party rank and file would actively participate in the bandh to ensure it was a success.
The EC has deployed 580 companies of central forces to man over 98 per cent of the polling booths in these constituencies to ensure free and fair polling.
